Time for a catch up?

My brother got married! ( I took all the photos! argh!)

Dirt Girl turned 8!    8!!!

We took some girls camping to celebrate.....

We took an overnighter to the beach for Robs Birthday..

It rained

But it was fun and funny

Planted some a lot of beetroot, someone else is enjoying them too?

Lettuce seeds planted

Tomatos too (with a nice little cover for the nights to save them from frost)

Bird watching. One of Zaras gifts was a HUGE book called 'What bird is that?' we identified this lovely one as a red browed finch, extremely common :)

Important holiday business

The luxury of time on school holidays

I like to call this one 'The Reluctant Walker' thats the boy, not the dog :)


What a whirl wind few weeks! But the future is all relaxing and sewing, well for the most part!
We will be at The Castlemaine Artists Market on the 7th of October for our first market for the spring. How is your spring going along? Do you have a great spurt of birthdays at this time too??

I am linking in with Squiggly Rainbows garden journal this week.


Jacq :)

No rain here!

This holidays the days have been all clear and blue skys so far, although they have been a bit chilly!

So, we crafted :) 

Avalon looked through all the Alphabet Glue e-mags and chose the tiny box with the accordion book.  We made....heaps!

We used scrapbook paper from my stash....

Used the 'chopper' but you could easily do it with scissors

A little snip here and there.....

Reading those instructions.....

Finished!

A hidey place for secrets....

I made a few too ;)

..... the mess!

I love going to crafty blogs, but they can be intimidating in the way that everything looks perfect and magical and effortless, which can make us mere mortals feel less than awesome!....so I hope to remember to post a 'reality' type photo with anything we make...this is what it all looked like when we were done!

 But I can happily type that no tantrums were chucked during the making of these boxes even after I measured a couple heap in a row wrongly, you can see them all in a pile in the last photo

  (they WERE pretty easy actually! I was just being daft!)

Next Zara wants to make bug keeper boxes ...stay tuned!

If you're interested in getting Alphabet Glue for your family just click on the little picture on the side bar >>   it will take you to the website!

What kind of stuff do you do in the holidays?

Jacq :)

School Holidays and my secret weapon

So, did you survive Day 1?

The weather enabled us to get outdoors today and after seeing the forecast for the week (rain, rain and more rain) I made sure we got outside for some fresh air and a run about, that cabin fever sets in pretty quick around here!

I am actually looking forward to a rainy week. Yes, that sounds very odd I realise. School holidays, 3 busy children and rainy days aren't something you normally put together and enjoy. Quite the contrary really.

But I have a plan, a secret plan! For a while now I have seen about the traps in internet land, an e-magazine for kids (and their mums and dads!) called Alphabet Glue. I had never really given it much of a look until the other day. 

Its damn awesome! 

Its not a glossy, loud commercial orientated publication, nothing like what you find on a supermarket shelf.

Its all about books and writing and story telling and doing stuff. Lots of printables for things to get busy with. The kind of fun that includes learning with out them knowing it, thats very best kind of learning.

Visually lovely too, simple with lovely cheery colors, easy to read and understand.....can you tell I like it?? 

Its cheap as chips too at only US$4 an issue, I chose to buy all 7 issues for $26. Thats alot of fun for $26. Heres whats in the current issue....

They come in a pdf file, which is great for our lovely earth, you just print what you need, and you can do that as many time as you like! It was super easy to pay for too, I just used paypal and it was done.

If you want to check it out further, and I REALLY think you should, you can click the picture I have put on the right hand side of the blog, it will take you right there. Easy peasy.

I look forward to sharing the activities we do together with you! 

Jacq :)

Easter Saturday

Today we braved the crowds and took a little trip into our nearest major town, Bendigo, to see a wood turners exhibition! I am so glad we did, their work was so inspiring! And I must say I do think they were glad to have a good chat with Rob, probably a young man by their standards, and pass on some of their knowledge. 

OMGosh there were so many beautiful pieces.....I am not a collector really, but in the last few years I  have found myself hunting out wooden bowls in op shops and such, so I was in wooden bowl heaven today.......

Such a variety of things to look at...

I rather fancied this little set of drawers

Something like this would make a lovely gift

Even wooden beer bottles...lol!

I *did* buy myself a wooden bowl today, I couldn't resist!

The new bowl was quickly snaffled to decorate the table for the Easter Bunny, please note the elaborate, highly artistic meal of carrot and chocolate created in case said Bunny was hungry AND to the top right you will see a 4 page book filled with questions for the Easter bunny...

Questions like...do you have any children?......what is your favourite instrument?.....What is your real name?.....Do you make the chocolate? .... What do you give children that aren't allowed dairy or sugar??...and so on and so forth..

I sure don't envy the Easter Bunny having to fill out all those questions on what much be a very tight schedule!

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter and theres some chocolate hidden somewhere in the morning just for you ;)

Jacq :)

Easter Holidays Crafting

hello! 

Yes its been a little while since I have written in this space, there has been plenty of writing going on.....just for different reasons :)

We had some lovely visitors today which made it the perfect time for making some easter friends! 

Using this pattern we made the sweetest little bunny finger puppets! 

These girls did a great job with a little help and I am sure any grown up could do a respectable job too :)

I used acrylic felt bought for 70 cents a sheet, and some cotton and embroidery thread that I already had. I think any child all the way down to a small toddler would love to have a bunny to have an easter adventure with! Here are some pictures of our day to inspire you to make your own...

Cutting out the pattern

How do you use pins?? Some new skills were learnt

Our bunnies had spots in their ears :)

Go on, make a bunny :D

Jacq :)

We're taking a run up!

I had planned on posting a tutorial on some great, easy to make, no glue or tape involved, baskets that would be great for Easter and holiday crafting.......but I haven't quite made it there yet....soon.....very soon! 

We have been SO incredibly busy here at JaxFancy HQ. 

I mostly love it! 

We are preparing for the Kids Market in Castlemaine this coming Saturday, making many lovely, rainbow cats and mice amongst other things.....

For some time I have had some wood and wire fellows in my stash of stuff, they have sat on my book shelf, naked, waiting for me to make them some fancy duds to wear.....well finally inspiration struck!

Here are some all dressed up....

I wish I had turned the Robin Hood fellow about a little, he has a real feather in his hat that Zara found in our garden :) 

Rob has had his own burst of inspiration, a far bigger project than mine, and not ready for a big reveal...but here is a little peek...

I am oh so looking forward to seeing this one finished, very exciting! I really love it when our projects combine his skills and my own together, this project is one of them (well mostly his with a little of mine!).


~


I just need to finish another couple of men so I can sleep happily.... a Gnome couple I think, oh how I love Gnomes.......I really hope this book finds its way to me someday. My Nana had it, I enjoyed many, many hours looking through its pages when I was a child and I know I would again now too (I might even let my kids have a look as well!!)




I would really love to know, what book did you LOVE as a child?





:) Jacq

Back from the Wild!

Hello JaxFanciers!!

We are back from our camping trip, feeling tired (damn camping beds) but very creatively refreshed! 

After the very busy end to last year I have really appreciated the past 2 weeks of relative quiet ( I did take my children after all!) and simplicity.

I have cooked up a few ideas which I will be sharing with you soon,

but in the meantime how about some holiday snaps??

ahhh peace!

fun!

quiet

One of our daily visitors

family fun

friends

Rapids

Exploring

I hope you have been having a lovely Summer, or if your up the top end of the world, a lovely winter.

Now I must keep working on the mountain of dirty washing and 

enjoying the miracle of my electric kettle!

Jacq :) 

Summer Days

January is a month that I think about all year, I kid you not, I really do mean ALL year. When I am sitting at basketball freezing my bum off, I think about January. When I am juggling all the things working mums do day after day,  its January I look forward to. In the weeks leading up to Christmas when life becomes a blur of parties, supper plates and dress up days, its nearly January I say!

The Summer Garden

Four weeks of sun, swimming (I am sure my family is part fish), going places, still being in my dressing gown at 11am, no where to be by any particular time and relaxing. Relaxing....?

 A 2nd hand pool which has been the most wonderful entertainer!

So now that January is approaching rapidly why does my brain turn to cleaning and de-cluttering?? CLEANING?!?! Since when has cleaning is been in the January plan??

The Christmas Tree , now

Sometimes we really are our own worst enemy. (cleaning in January....sheesh!)

So as it happens when the New Year is coming, I am questioning life and its craziness. There's a lot of energy spent in this world trying to organise our lives and all the stuff that comes with it. If you google it, you will get a fright....we must all be in the same boat...

I think it's time to take a good look at the work/fun balance in my life (its way out of whack) and simplify this house to make *that* part of the work easier to manage, leaving me some time for fun. 

 Then maybe I won't need to think about cleaning next January.

Sounds like a plan.

That still leaves me with the 'cleaning this January' problem.

.........Lets call it simplifying instead, and I'll promise myself to do something relaxing everyday in January.....well I will try anyway?  :) 

How is your work/fun balance? Do you examine your own life because its New Years? Any thing you want to change??

On a lighter note I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, all kept safe and with family you love. We got a lovely surprise with my brother and his love announcing their engagement. I really couldn't be any happier for them both, I know how much their lives with be enriched 

and their love multiply when they say those words  'I do'. 

Well Done Luke and Colly xoxo

Well its 11am, time to get dressed :D 

Sunny Days to you

Jacq :)

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